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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
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Seven days is very short...do not attempt to go far south!
We have a home in vacation San Felipe and we never stay less that 7 days. There is too much time consumed getting there. One day to...one day back.
That leaves you 5 days.
A BN here said to rent out of San Diego and drive from there. Good idea. My wife flies into SD International....rents a car...in San Felipe about 4.5
hours later. yes...the rental car companies will take your wallet....dog...and your left arm....for their insurance rates!
San Felipe is a sleepy town of 20,000 She has great downtown, malecone, visitor interests......and then southward of town....a new two lane highway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uilhobuJUU that take will take you down through some real pretty ocean scenes.
Puertecitos
http://www.bajaexpo.com/cities/puertec.htm
Bahia San Luis Gonzaga
http://www.in-the-desert.com/gonzagabay.html
http://www.ericrench.com/MEXICO/GONZAD/RGRAN/index.htm
The last 12 miles to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga is NOT paved....go slow and easy...it's very doable.
[Edited on 2-21-2012 by mcfez]
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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wsdunc
Nomad
Posts: 179
Registered: 8-24-2006
Location: So Cal
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Mood: Upbeat
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Vote for BCS
I vote for the find a way to fly Volaris to La Paz. If you spend the week in BCS you will get a much better feel for Baja. Here is a place my wife
and I stayed in Oct which (for us anyway) was perfect: http://www.vrbo.com/324284. I would say that after our visit here these folks are friends of mine, and they will be good hosts.
There are also excellent fishing hotels (Punta Colorada and Rancho Leonero come to mind) where lodging and meals is reasonably priced. However once
you start fishing the price goes up dramatically.
I'd do the VRBO thing if they have openings, and then run day trips if you want to see more (Cabo Pulmo, Todos Santo). You might just find that you
want to hang out at the palapa, and fish from the beach.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65307
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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and for the record... the road to Hwy.1 at Chapala from San Felipe does NOT require 4WD. It is paved about 80 miles and graded (2WD) dirt, albeit
wasboard-like for about 50 miles.
My vote however is for you to fly into Loreto... See Loreto mission and shops, San Javier mission (paved for all but 5 miles of the 20), Bahia
Concepcion and Mulege. Arrange a boat ride to Isla Coronado from Loreto (haven't done it, but everyone raves). It is a vaction, don't wear yourselves
out!
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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With apologies to those Baja Norte afficionados, BCS is a way cooler place.
You mentioned that you were starting in Chicago. Fact is that you can get direct flights from Chicago to San Jose Del Cabo. Rent a car at the airport
and drive North.
In seven days you should easily be able to head up as far as Mulege and down to San Lucas.
Rental rates down at SJD have been quite reasonable in the past couple of years. Andm, by law, Mexican liability insurance is included in the rate.
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miPrimeraVez
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: 2-20-2012
Location: chi-town
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just got back yesterday, in short, vacation went much better than expected, especially the driving a rental across the border. i was overly nervous
about driving into mexico, and getting back into USA, not sure why was there so much hype about that, it was relatively easy... tecate crossing
20mins!!!
rented from LAX, $26/day just for MALI alone, yikes... crossed tecate, east to mexicali, down to san felipe, down to puertocitos, back up to ensenada,
down to puerto santo tomas, punta banda/escondido, valle de guadalupe, back up to tecate, and back to malibu!! phew... loved it there. gas was cheap,
food was awesome, camped wherever we wanted, without much advanced reservations...
thank you all for providing useful suggestions. lessons that kept repeating itself during our vacation was that if you find the time to explore off
the beaten track, you'll always be rewarded with hidden gems - that's what i'd call an adventure! every single local person we met were extremely warm
& welcoming, eager to find out where you came from and always ready to help, be it camping sites not "yet" available or buying a prepaid SIM with
minimal spanish!
muchas gracias amigos~
http://www.panomonkey.com/image/14680/ste5829
[Edited on 6-4-2012 by miPrimeraVez]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65307
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Cool panorama at San Felipe!
Glad you had a good time and that it all worked out well!
No banditos or crooked cops asking for a bribe or getting kidnapped and beheaded by the narco cartel??? Shame you didn't get the treatment advertised
by our news and government!!
Thanks for reporting back!
Would love to see your trip photos!!
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miPrimeraVez
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: 2-20-2012
Location: chi-town
Member Is Offline
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david,
we drove passed many military check points, and yes, they do carry AK47s, but most would just wave us pass. there was the one at the highway junction
north of san felipe, right before heading west towards ensenada, where we were asked to step out of the car to facilitate their search, which ended in
2mins after they saw our tent camping equipment. if you asked me, the border search crossing back to america is more thorough, so i'm abit confused
why are people so freaked out about military checkpoints... btw, they do speak english, just enough to make gringo communication easier. a sales lady
at mexicali told us, everyone had english at elementary school, they're just shy to use it.
as for bandits, crooked cops, etc, i don't think they are any worse than our corrupted ILlinois politicians. as the rental car guy pointed out, the
"date of expiry" sticker on the back of my driver's license. the state's just too broke to issue new IDs, because all the money has gone into the
wrong pockets... so yet another example of our govt painting other countries as red, or "bad", including china, cuba, etc... weird reaction from
co-workers when my wife told them about going to mexico or cuba, they'd ask, "why? what's there?"
the other gripe was pemex scams, blah blah blah... makes me scratch my head reading those urban legends from the internet, way way out of date and
ridiculous. the peso bills have both roman number and spanish word indicating its value, i'm not sure how people can get scammed. the pumps are all
modern, and would zero out automatically like any pumps here in america. attendants are always courteous and will speak english if you're struggling
with espaņol... they accept both pesos and dollars too.
as for the paved road south of puertocitos, we went as far south as KM123, roughly 32miles south of town before heading north back to the valley of
giants. the guard was worried that our economy rental doesn't have enough clearance for the sandy road into the park, after much persuasion in broken
spanish, he let us in, without collecting the entrance fee until we've safely returned from the sandy excursion. we offered him beer which he kindly
refused, and was eager to tell us about the "new" road south of puertocitos and was recommending us to go ensenada that way =) i'm sure we missed out
on some great scenery of Gonzaga Bay, in exchange for a changing scene from desert to lush vineyard westbound to ensenada. 
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desertcpl
Super Nomad
Posts: 2405
Registered: 10-26-2008
Location: yuma,az
Member Is Offline
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